Frequency Domain Quantum Processing via Four-Wave Mixing
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Optical photons are excellent flying qubits for future long-distance quantum networks due to negligible decoherence at room temperature. To date, quantum photonic technologies have focused on processing the spatial, temporal and polarization degrees of freedom of light. However, frequency encoding of information has had a profound impact on classical telecommunications, creating mature low-loss fiber-based and integrated photonics hardware that can be exploited to address challenges of scalability in photonic quantum networks. In this dissertation, we use tools from nonlinear optics to realize coherent frequency domain processing of single photons. We use quantum frequency conversion via Bragg scattering four-wave mixing (BS-FWM) to manipulate the spectral and temporal properties of single photons. We use an implementation of BS-FWM that achieves close to unity efficiency and ultra-low noise to develop a powerful toolbox that combines advantages of frequency encoding, fiber and integrated photonic technologies and nonlinear optics for scaling future quantum networks. The first application discussed in this thesis is a frequency-multiplexed single-photon source. Deterministic, high-quality sources of single photons are a crucial requirement for scalable photonic quantum information processing (QIP). The most widely used single-photon sources are based on nonlinear parametric processes that are inherently probabilistic. Active feed-forward switching and multiplexing of such probabilistically generated photons can be used to generate photons on demand if a sufficiently large number of modes are multiplexed. Schemes based on spatial and temporal multiplexing however suffer from prohibitive switching losses that significantly limit their performance. We implemented an alternative scheme based on frequency multiplexing that breaks this limitation. We used BS-FWM as a ‘frequency switch’ to multiplex frequency modes of a broadband probabilistic single-photon source. We demonstrated a 220% enhancement in single-photon generation rate while maintaining low noise properties (
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Bindel, David S.